Patterico's Pontifications

8/16/2009

Dealer’s Cash-for-Clunkers Claims Remain Unpaid

Filed under: Government — DRJ @ 8:02 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

Congressman Joe Sestak (D-PA) says the Cash-for-Clunkers program is denying 4-out-5 reimbursement claims filed by automobile dealers:

“In the letter [to President Obama], Sestak said only 2 percent of claims have been paid and that four of every five applications have been “rejected for minor oversight.”

In recent days, auto dealers across the country have been complaining that the reimbursement payments are slow to process. And they said some of their applications were being rejected because of apparent procedural issues. The statistics Sestak cited suggest those complaints are not based on isolated incidents.

Staffing could be one problem. According to sales data summarized by Transportation Department officials, dealers have submitted requests for rebates on 338,659 vehicles sold.

But while Congress just expanded the $1 billion program by $2 billion, the Department of Transportation says a staff of just 225 people is reviewing those claims.”

This means each Transportation staff member is processing 1,500 claims. Sestak says the Administration should assign 1,000 processors to handle claims.

Just imagine how many processors the government would need to handle health care claims. I wonder what percentage of those claims would get paid?

— DRJ

26 Responses to “Dealer’s Cash-for-Clunkers Claims Remain Unpaid”

  1. None of this means Larry Kudlow looks any less fetching in his new ittle bittle cheerleader skirt I don’t think.

    Bestest Program Ever!!

    Ready??? OK!

    happyfeet (d8cd81)

  2. To them, it’s a feature, not a bug. It used to be the only thing at stake in elections was that the civil service (all three buildings of it) would go to the new President’s cronies.

    Right now there are 1.8 million federal employees. They can’t be fired at will like the old days, but there are thousands of positions turning over every year. This is a big deal, and the more bureaucratic positions they can create, the more college grads with useless degrees can find a nice union job stamping paperwork.

    Volunteer for Democrats, work to get them elected, and they will create more federal positions to reward you, and never mind that that taxes will be raised to pay for it.

    Britt (8d5885)

  3. State govts are even slower to pay their vendors. Six months – twelve months. Next year will be worse.

    “four of every five applications have been rejected” I guess I’m glad somebody is actually examining the applications. I expected there to be a lot of fraudulent “clunkers” showing up in this program.

    gp (ddb675)

  4. I would be horrible as one of the reviewers… “Approved… Approved… Approved…”

    I wouldn’t even bother waiting for the file to completely load.

    Scott Jacobs (d027b8)

  5. Raining money but still the government implementation sucks. Watch your health care!

    Alta Bob (e30b1d)

  6. Great Town Hall Quesions #357

    “Just imagine how many processors the government would need to handle health care claims. I wonder what percentage of those claims would get paid?”

    tyree (b7243f)

  7. so it’s $4500 plus administration costs to the taxpayer

    This was a good idea… when?

    SteveG (97b6b9)

  8. If he were still alive, Charles Dickens would write a story about the hapless clunker dealer, brought to ruin by the “help” of well meaning government fiat.

    Patricia (29a01d)

  9. Didn’t someone already say that the easiest way for the Govt to ration healthcare is to not pay for it? And, the easiest way to not pay, is to keep finding proceedural errors in the paperwork, once it works its’ way to the top of the pile.

    AD - RtR/OS! (4404ef)

  10. Larry K says it’s super worth it cause new car smell is like the same as cialis and this is how consumers get more potenter. Just sit back and wait for the sproing before you get all judgey.

    Mr. Kudlow writes for National Review you know and he said this program was beesy kneesy so I really don’t see what we have to discuss here.

    happyfeet (71f55e)

  11. Larry’s depending on increased sales to improve the car-companies bottom-lines, thereby driving up their stock prices, making the Market better.
    That’s all Larry’s concerned about: The Market!

    AD - RtR/OS! (4404ef)

  12. Maybe. A big part of the gloriously thuggy UAW legacy is that the whole auto “industry” has been banished from the Dow because it makes a negligible contribution to economic activity cause of it’s a big losery embarrassing fiasco.

    I would bet one of the stats they’re reluctant to release is what percentage of the “clunkers” are American crapmobiles. I’m guessing 80% or more.

    happyfeet (71f55e)

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    Patterico’s Pontifications » Dealer’s Cash-for-Clunkers Claims Remain Unpaid | Are You Freaking Stupid? (4579df)

  14. Our government at work.

    Dan F (59ab42)

  15. You know, if Healthcare was rationed to all the Congresscritters by one uncaring bureaucrat, we’d get real reform “El Jiffo”.

    PCD (02f8c1)

  16. These dealers chose to lie down with dogs, now they’re complaining about fleas? Nobody forced them to participate in the program, they voluntarily did so because they thought it would boost their sales, and now they’re b****ing because government is inefficient.

    steve sturm (369bc6)

  17. Didn’t someone already say that the easiest way for the Govt to ration healthcare is to not pay for it? And, the easiest way to not pay, is to keep finding proceedural errors in the paperwork, once it works its’ way to the top of the pile.

    Comment by AD – RtR/OS!

    What makes you think they haven’t been doing this for 40 years ? MediCal used to take 2 years to pay a claim and then it was about 10% of the charge. They used to reject claims because they said they were filed late. Then I tried to file claims by registered mail. They wouldn’t accept registered mail. I gave up and quit taking any MediCal except the occasional big trauma case.

    Mike K (addb13)

  18. So, any dealerships that didn’t get shut down by the initial wave of nepotistic selection stand a chance of folding anyway, thanks to the amateur-hour bungling and SSDD paperwork shell games of the Most Transparent Administration Evar. (We’ve got a local dealer that’s facing that possibility if C4C can’t come through. Doesn’t help that they’re a Chrysler dealer with exactly one car left on the lot.)

    More jobs Created Or Saved! by the Won. Truly, this is the Hope we’ve been Changing for.

    PCachu (e072b7)

  19. Where did all the money go then?

    I’m sure the MSM will get right on it!

    Patricia (29a01d)

  20. And, the easiest way to not pay, is to keep finding proceedural errors in the paperwork, once it works its’ way to the top of the pile.

    Yeah, JD, b/c insurance companies just LOVE to pay for the medical expenses of the people whose money they take each month. They NEVER find reasons not to pay for care or ever refuse a claim.

    You lovable insurance shill, you. 🙂

    Myron (98529a)

  21. The last post, I meant “AD.”

    (Sorry, JD.)

    Myron (98529a)

  22. Myron, once again you wave the red flag. I’m sure your experience with government is far better than with insurance companies even though insurance companies can be sued and government can’t.

    My own experience with insurance companies, while not the ideal I might choose, is very different from my experience with Medicaid, for example. I know the insurance industry is the villain de jure for the far left. Next month it will be the pharmaceutical industry. It used to be big Detroit cars but they are now owned by the UAW so they are out of bounds.

    Your naivete would be better less exposed. It makes you look foolish.

    Mike K (addb13)

  23. For the benifit of Mike K and Myron, I never said that slow-pay was a new process, it is just the way XL bureaucracies work, and there is no larger bureaucracy (in fact and spirit) than Government!
    As Dr.Mike well knows from bitter experience, dealing with a large, un-accountable bureaucracy is maddening. At least, in the past, he had the option of not taking Medicare patients, and avoiding having to interact with its’ drones. With an NHS, there will not be that option.
    The problems that dealers are having getting reimbursed is a non-critical indication of what will happen under ObamaCare, where people will die due to the callousness of the system.
    I think it is written in a handbood somewhere, that as a “civil servant”, your first obligation is to never say “Yes” to anything. A “Yes” can tar you forever, but a “No” (particularly when couched with suggestions for additional steps to provide supplemental information) is almost never a black-mark, but shows your dedication to the process.

    AD - RtR/OS! (a26a7a)

  24. 21.

    Insurance companies are more willing to pay than a government does to enforce its own laws or obey the Constitution.

    Only a Lefty would attack a private firm for delivering goods which it sells in open competition while forgiving a government which steals from Peter to pay Paul.

    How compassionate of you.

    As other have observed of you you make a dim lightbulb seem like a supernova.

    Thomas Jackson (8ffd46)

  25. Fortunately, if you don’t meet all the criteria for getting the Cash for Clunkers payout, you still have other good options for getting rid of your old car. Vehicles that don’t qualify for Cash for Clunkers are still ideal car donations. When you donate cars, trucks, vans, RVs, boats or even real estate you get rid of your unwanted property, help a non-profit of your choice, and itemizing taxpayers get a write-off.

    doantecarusa (74b0d2)

  26. More comment spam.

    SPQR (26be8b)


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